Local golf: T Cleland will not defend P-S Women's Am title

T Cleland won her sixth P-S Women's Am title last year.Dennis Nett/syracuse.com

Teresa "T" Cleland has a number of golf tournaments lined up for this summer but the Post-Standard Women's Amateur isn't one of them.

Cleland, the six-time and reigning P-S Women's Am champion, will not defend her title because the tournament conflicts with a sectional qualifying round of the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur on July 21 in Massachusetts.

Cleland, 55, agonized over which event to compete in and didn't make up her mind until two weeks ago. The P-S Women's Am is scheduled for July 21 at Cortland Country Club and July 22 at Cazenovia Country Club.

"I was definitely torn," said Cleland, who will be inducted in the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame this fall. "This was such a hard decision. I wanted to come back and defend my (Post-Standard) title. But this was the only date I could do for the (U.S.) Mid-Am qualifier."

Cleland, of Onondaga Hill, qualified for the U.S. Women's Mid-Am last year. This year's main event is being held Sept. 6-11 at Harbour Trees Golf Club in Noblesville, Indiana.

"It was a crazy schedule for me and when they changed the dates (of the P-S Am), the small window I had got even smaller," she said.

The original date of the 24th annual P-S Women's Am was July 14-15 but it was moved a week later because it overlapped the N.Y.S. Women's Amateur and Mid-Am at Dutchess Golf Club. Cleland has won three straight state Mid-Am titles.

"I've been tossing things around about what to do," she said. "It wasn't an easy decision. There are so few dates in the summer and there is always a conflict."

Cleland's daughter, Jill, is also getting married Aug. 2 in Myrtle Beach, SC. After that, Cleland is headed to a U.S. Senior Women's Amateur sectional qualifier Aug. 18 in Anchorage, Alaska. Jill Cleland resides in Alaska.

With Cleland unable to defend, the P-S Women's Am title is up for grabs as is the local amateur exemption into the LPGA Symetra Tour's 19th annual Credit Union Classic presented by Wegmans.

The P-S Women's Am champ will be among the field of more than 140 rising stars in professional women's golf July 28-Aug. 3 at Drumlins Country Club's East Course.

The entry fee for the P-S Women's Amateur is $80 and the registration deadline is July 15. The event offers competition in six different divisions: open and senior scratch, open and senior handicap and junior scratch (15-18 and 14-under). However, only the winner of the open scratch division will be eligible to accept the Symetra Tour exemption.